take your answer off the air...

Talker's MagazineThe quirky talk radio trade mag. Check the Talk Radio Research Project- it's not very scientific, but places on the top 15 talkers list (scroll down to Talk Radio Audiences By Size)) are as hotly contested as Emmys (and mean just about as much).

The AdvocateNo, not THAT Advocate... it's the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.

Media MattersDocumentation of right-wing media in video, audio and text.

Orcinushome of David Neiwert, freelance investigative journalist and author who writes extensively about far-right hate groups

Hominid Views"People, politics, science, and whatnot"
Darryl is a statistician who fights imperialism with empiricism, gives good links and wry commentary.

Jesus' General An 11 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender, a 12 on the Heavenly Scale of the 10 Commandments and a 6 on the earthly scale of the Immaculately Groomed.

Irrational Public Radio "informs, challenges, soothes and/or berates, and does so with a pleasing vocal cadence and unmatched enunciation. When you listen to IPR, integrity washes over you like lava, with the pleasing familiarity of a medium-roast coffee and a sensible muffin."

The Moderate VoiceThe voice of reason in the age of Obama, and the politics of the far-middle.

News Hounds Dogged dogging of Fox News by a team who seems to watch every minute of the cable channel so you don't have to.

HistoryLinkFun to read and free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Founded by the late Walt Crowley, it's an indispensable tool and entertainment source for history wonks and surfers alike.

right-wing blogs we like

The Reagan WingHearin lies the real heart of Washington State Republicans. Doug Parris runs this red-meat social conservative group site which bars no holds when it comes to saying who they are and who they're not; what they believe and what they don't; who their friends are and where the rest of the Republicans can go. Well-written, and flaming.

Bonaduce recently finished a run at Philadelphia's rock WYSP (94.1), as it became a simulcast of sports WIP (610). Now the Seattle-Board speculation here at Radio-Info.com turns into a confirmation from CBS Radio: Bonaduce will take over mornings at KZOK (102.5) starting November 14. His airshift? 5:45am to 9am. Coming to Seattle along with Danny is two-year co-host Sarah, as news director.

We didn't do the Partridge family in the '70's and we ain't going to start now.

Our guy Chauncey (not his real name) at Clear Channel-owned Metro Traffic (who does the traffic breaks used by most all Seattle stations) writes that CC has brought their great RIF to the Seattle market, after all.

Wednesday they fired two full-time reporters, a fill in, and the sales assistant.

Chancey writes: "IMO, if CC could get away with putting 511 on speakerphone and putting a mic next to it, they would do it. Thanks Telecom Act!"

October 30, 2011

Herman Cain, the 'Most Entertaining' Republican Candidate Who Will Never Win The Nomination OR The General Election has been accused in a Politico investigative piece of harrassing two different women as head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. Politico reporters wrote that they have seen the paperwork from the settlement, which they say was settled "in the five-figure range."

This more than likely does in this self-satisfied poseur's unlikely attempt at looking like a real politician.

Now that the ditsy "federal tax lawyer," Michele Bachmann has been obliterated, and Rick Perry has fizzled like flatulance in a Texas windstorm, our new fave-rave for 'Most Entertaining' Repulblican Candidate Who Will Never Win The Nomination OR The General Election is the buffoonalous Herman Cain -another self-satisfied conservative blowhard with an ignorant accent and penchant for simplemindedness who's hogging the tiny interstices of the collective Republican imagination.

They (and we) have just enough imagination to be bored shitless with the prospect of a Mitt Romney nomination. Problem for Romney: The GOP-ers not bored shitless with his steady inevitability, simply hate his guts.

October 29, 2011

We continue legendary Seattle radio man Dick Curtis' autobiography, Me, Myself & I - We're on the Road Again. He wrote it for family & friends a few years ago, but has availed it to BlatherWatch. The book is fascinating glimpse, not only into early rock 'n' roll radio, but even more into the business of talent management and concert promotion in an incredible, crazypants time to be there: the 1960's, '70's and '80's.

This time I was on my own and flying into Tampa to meet with the Stadium authority about bringing Led Zeppelin to town. Terry Bassett had first come to know these guys. Joe Zalupski was the Director and his right-hand man was Bob ******, his manager. Joe was on the “hip” side but always very proper as “the director.” He was smooth. Bob was a nervous sort but let you know he ran things at Tampa Stadium. He always made those kinds of inferences when Joe wasn’t around. The Tampa Sports Authority also oversaw the baseball field where the Cincinnati Reds conducted their spring training at the time. The Reds have since moved on to Sarasota and the Yankees have taken over Tampa as their spring site. Anyway, the meeting went well and I headed back to Atlanta to do my homework and prepare a budget for the show with the new figures I’d received from Pierce.

It's a "modern" version, so Banel set the story in Seattle and Concrete, WA in 1941. Why Concrete, you ask? Banal's version riffs from the Orson Welles, 1938 War of the Worlds panic that hit the little Skagit County town particularly hard.

Probably the most terrified listeners were in the town of Concrete, located in Skagit County, 60 miles northeast of Seattle. By sheer coincidence, during the midpoint of the broadcast a power failure plunged almost the entire town of 1,000 into darkness. Some listeners fainted while others grabbed their families to head up into the mountains. Some of the men grabbed their guns, planning to blow away any bug-eyed monster or spaceship that got in their way.

The plot maintains the incident may have been related to something less benign than the radio show. Dever plays the hardboiled detective Irving Washington (get it?!?!) who must sort out a town full of shady characters to get to the bottom of the disappearance of Ichabod Crane.

The troupe is dedicating the broadcast to radio drama pioneer Norman Corwin, who died last week.

Presented by Seattle Radio Theatre, you can listen to it in the theater of your own mind, or watch the live performance at Town Hall. Advance tickets are $13 or $10 forTown Hall members, students & seniors/$5 kids 12 and under at Brown Paper Tickets or 800/838-3006; $15 /$13 Town Hall members, students & seniors/$5 kids 12 and under at the door. Audience must be seated by 7:45 pm. No late seating.

"You're blowing it with Fox News," Jobs told him over dinner. "The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is constructive-destructive, and you've cast your lot with the destructive people. Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society. You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you're not careful." Jobs said he thought Murdoch did not really like how far Fox had gone. "Rupert's a builder, not a tearer-downer," he said. "I've had some meetings with James, and I think he agrees with me. I can just tell."

The corporatization of radio is marching along, as the piglomerate Clear Channel dries up local programming and replaces it with their own, syndicated, mostly right-wing, talkers. The company had a meeting in Atlanta Oct. 10 & 11 with regional managers, and handed out flash drives to each one.

According to Radio-Info's Tom Taylor, they contained hour-by-hour breakdowns of each station’s schedule with a cost analysis.

"And if a local show wasn’t in the top three in its demo, it was in peril of being replaced by Clear Channel’s off-the-shelf “Premium Choice.” That was the test – top three, or you’re in trouble."

KVI am 570 KHz Visit the burnt-out husk of one of the seminal right-wing talkers in all the land. Here's where once trilled the reactionary tones of Rush Limbaugh, John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Mike Siegel, Peter Weissbach, Floyd Brown, Dinky Donkey, and Bryan Suits.
Now it's Top 40 hits from the '60's & '70's aimed at that diminishing crowd who still remembers them and can still hear.

KTTH am 770 KHzRight wing home of local, and a whole bunch of syndicated righties such as Glennn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larsony, and for an hour a day: live & local David Boze.